‘Hey, boy’ Takes Pride in Women’s Androgynous Look

She says people often tell her that short hair, T-shirts, shirts, sneakers and tattoos are not something that girls usually wear.

Martina. Photo: Kristijan Vuckovic.

"Our society is deeply rooted in stereotypes about what a woman should look like, and everything out of these frames is strange, unusual, confusing," she says.

Salov has had various experiences on the street as a result of her refusal to conform to those stereotypes.

They have ranged from harmless curious glimpses to more worrying insults, being kicked out of a women's toilets, to shouts of "Are you some lesbian?"

Some situations ended with violence, and "with an elbow to my head".

Salov says she is quite clear about her own sexuality, but reminds people that not all the androgynous women she has photographed are lesbians.

"Heterosexual androgynous women often experience forms of discrimination because [others say] it is impossible to play football, have short hair and not wear make-up if you are not a lesbian," she notes.

Some of the women that Salov has photographed have agreed to share their stories with BIRN.

Ira: Honestly, I just don't care

Ira. Photo: Martina Salov.

"From personal experience, I derive the fact that androgynous women are always expected to choose a side, i.e. a gender, and stereotypical sex protocols according to which they 'need to behave'," says Ira from the coastal city of Zadar.

"I have been in a number of situations when I have been asked directly what side … I was more inclined to, and to all [such questions] I answer that I honestly don't care."

She says she often meets people who do not see an androgynous appearance in a woman as normal, but says she understands that...